The Hours After Midnight: Tales of Terror and the Supernatural

by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Contents

9 • Introduction: Le Fanu, the "Invisible Prince" • essay by Des Hickey
23 • The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh • [The Purcell Papers • 2] • (1838) • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
37 • Schalken the Painter • (1935) • novelette by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
75 • A Ghost Story • [Ghost Stories of Chapelizod • 3] • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (variant of The Sexton's Adventure 1851) [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
87 • A Haunted House • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (variant of An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House 1862) [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
109 • My Uncle Watson • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (variant of Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling 1864) [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
131 • Madam Crowl's Ghost • (1945) • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
153 • The Legend of Dunblane • novelette by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
189 • Green Tea • [Martin Hesselius] • (1872) • novelette by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]
259 • Dickon the Devil • [Martin Hesselius] • (1936) • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu [as by J. Sheridan Le Fanu]

Genres: Horror, Fiction

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. M.R. James described Le Fanu as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories". Three of his best-known works are Uncle Silas, Carmilla and The House by the Churchyard.

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le Fanu was an enormously influential writer in his time. It's said that his vampire tale Carmilla inspired Bram Stoker. Later on, two of the 20th century's most heralded ghost story writers, M.R. James and Henry James, were also influenced by Le Fanu's tales.

While Le Fanu was one of the most popular writers of the Victorian era, he's not so widely read today, and most people encounter his work in ghost story anthologies, especially his most famous story, "Green Tea," a masterpiece of the genre. As this anthology demonstrates, Le Fanu's style gradually moved away from the mannered, overwrought Gothic conventions popular in his time toward a more vivid and taut style in his later work.

Le Fanu was a noted recluse who gradually withdrew from society after the death of his wife, and it's said that his work mirrored his tormented inner life. He wrote by candlelight far into the night in his gloomy Georgian house, perhaps attempting to exorcise the nightmares that kept him from sleep. Indeed, many of Le Fanu's tales have a strangely off-kilter psychological quality to them that seems to spring from a deeply morbid nature. In his work there's a shift away from the typical external Gothic terrors to internal sources of dread. He's sometimes compared to Poe, another groundbreaking writer who was a master of mood and psychological suspense.

One anecdote that is often told about Le Fanu is that throughout his life he was beset by a nightmare of being trapped a crumbling mansion on the verge of collapsing about him. When Le Fanu was found dead one February morning, his doctor remarked, "It is as I feared. The house has fallen at last."

(Note: First read in June 1999. Reread April 2012.)

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.98

Introduction: Le Fanu, the "Invisible Prince" • Des Hickey 4.25⭐
The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh • [The Purcell Papers • 2] • (1838) 4.25⭐
Schalken the Painter • (1935) 5⭐
A Ghost Story • [Ghost Stories of Chapelizod • 3] (variant of The Sexton's Adventure 1851) 3.5⭐
A Haunted House (variant of An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House 1862) 3⭐
My Uncle Watson (variant of Wicked Captain Walshawe, of Wauling 1864) 4.5⭐
Madam Crowl's Ghost • (1945) 3.5⭐
The Legend of Dunblane 5⭐
Green Tea • [Martin Hesselius] • (1872) 3.5⭐
Dickon the Devil • [Martin Hesselius] • (1936) 3.25⭐

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Et must for alle fans af gys. Det er en fin samling og et fantastisk sprog. Kan kun anbefales.

[Lorena Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 en realidad. Bastante mejores que las de M R James, igual algunos mejor que otros. No sé, creo que simplemente los historias de fantasmas no son tanto lo mío...

[Nikoline · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sir Robert Ardaghs skæbne"
"Maleren Schalken"
"En spøgelseshistorie"
"Spøgelseshuset"
"Onkel Watson"
"Fru Crowls genfærd"
"Sagnet om Dunblane"
"Grøn te"
"Djævle-Dickon"

[Karl]

Edited and with an Introduction by Des Hickey

Illustrations by Geoffrey Bourne-Taylor

9 - 22 Introduction "Le Fanu the Invisible Prince" Des Hickey
23 - The Fortress of Sir Robert Arlagh (1838)
37 - Schalken The Painter (1839)
75 - A Ghost Story (1851)
87 - A Haunted House (1862)
109 - My Uncle Watson (1864)
131 - Madam Crowl's Ghost (1870)
153 - The Legend Of Dunblane (1869)
293 - Dickon the Devil (1872)

Published in 1975 by Leslie Frewin Publishers Limited
London